Starting with What We Have
By Claire Louge
When we have a problem, it’s normal to look for something new, a solution outside of what we have, rather than looking around to see what exists. This isn’t wrong, but if we don’t look at what we have, we may be missing that we already have the solution to our problem.

A couple weeks ago, I had a conversation with the people who run the Birth to Five Helpline at Southwest Human Development. As you may know, the Birth to Five Helpline is a free service for any caregiver of a young child (including professionals), in which they can call with any question about parenting or child development. The non-judgmental, compassionate early childhood specialists who answer the phone will refer you to other resources you may need and will spend as much time as you want talking about your question/concern. That’s amazing.

With everything going on in the world, you know the struggle is real for families right now. But you don’t need to do something drastic, or create a big new thing, to help. Look first at what you already have – what already exists- and go from there. Maybe the best solution is already in front of us, like the Birth to Five Helpline.